Sea Turtle Cookie Fun

Since the birthday boy doesn't like cake, I try to have cookies too for him. Lest you think these were chocolate - nope, brown food coloring because he wanted the shells to be brown, not green. These are actually sugar cookies. We really had fun making these fun turtles, it was a group effort. I made the dough, Nicholas made their shells, Bronwyn made their head and feet. I used a toothpick dipped in cocoa powder to make their eyes, but I promise they didn't taste like cocoa. This recipe says to bake them 5-7 minutes... um.. no. How about more like 8-11 unless you want underbaked turtles. They do puff up REALLY big then settle down to manageable turtles rather than monster turtles. My favorite part was at his birthday - he didn't want any cookies or cake - but before bed asked for sherbet.... sigh. KID! Someday we'll make a birthday treat that we'll all eat - even him.

Turtle Sugar Cookies
⅔ cups sugar
½ cup butter, softened
1 tsp vanilla
1 egg
1 ¾ cup flour
½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
Green gel food coloring
Instructions
Preheat oven to 400ºF.
In a large mixing bowl, beat sugar, butter, and vanilla until creamy.
Add egg and beat again.
Add dry ingredients until dough is smooth.
Add green gel food coloring to the dough and beat again until the color is uniform throughout. The amount used will depend on the type of food coloring you are using.
Using a 1-tablespoon cookie scoop, scoop dough and roll it into round balls to form the bodies of the turtles. Place them on a greased cookie sheet.
Using a fork, press the dough balls down in two different directions to create the shell design. Cookies should be about ½-inch thick after being pressed down.
For each turtle, roll a head and four small feet. Gently connect them to the bodies.
Bake cookies for 5-7 minutes or until bottoms begin to brown.
Place cookies onto a cooling rack to cool.
When cookies are cooled, carefully draw eyes on with an edible marker.